5th Grade Math Resources for CCSS 5.NBT.3

5.NBT.3:  Read, write, and compare decimals to the thousandths.

(a) Read and write decimals to thousandths using base-ten numerals, number names, and expanded form, e.g., 347.392 = 3 × 100 + 4 × 10 + 7 × 1 + 3 × (1/10) + 9 × (1/100) + 2 × (1/1000).

(b) Compare two decimals to thousandths based on meanings of the digits in each place, using >, =, and < symbols to record the results of comparisons.

First of all, this standard has two parts. We will first focus on part (a) of the standard:

5.NBT.3a

UNPACKED EXPLANATION: To put it as simple as possible, this part of standard 3 asks students to write the expanded form of numbers, fractions included to represent tenths, hundredths, and thousandths. 

WHAT THE PARCC WILL EXPECT: Just like 5.NBT.2, there are no performance tasks for 5.NBT.3 (a or b). So, the best approach to take here is to use these standards to prepare students for the more rigorous work that lies ahead later on in the NBT domain. If your students can accurately write standard, word, and expanded form of numbers that go to thousandths, they'll be fine on this standard. It really is a simple one that can be tied to some other standards as well.

RESOURCES: Again, this will be fairly straight forward. If you teach in sequence (and there's really no reason you shouldn't with this domain, it's already laid out that way), then your students will already have a good understanding of place values in the base ten system, making this the next step.

• Adjective/Noun Theme: As someone who has been through a full round of Intel Math training, I fully believe in and utilize many of their strategies, including adjective/noun theme. The a/n theme has been around long before Intel, but is very conceptual and powerful when students learn to utilize it. HERE is a document that explains adjective/noun theme in the four operations. And HERE is another document on adjective/noun theme with decimals. The basic premise here is that numbers are adjectives that describe nouns. You can't add together two unlike nouns (you can't add together 4 dogs and 2 cats without some sort of combining of nouns). So if it's 45 hundredths + 8 tenths, we have to do some converting to get 45 hundredths + 80 hundredths, and then we add the adjectives to get 125 hundredths. It's a simple yet effective way of teaching this stuff that is conceptual and leads to long term retention of learning. 
• Some worksheets and pdfs:
• mrmaffesoli.com 5.NBT.3a worksheets: A listing of some great 5.NBT.3a worksheets, there's quite a few here.
• Common Core Sheets: There's a pretty large listing here.
• Internet 4 Classrooms 5.NBT.3a: Wow, there's TONS here. 
• GAMES:
• Mathman: A Sheppard Software game, very simple and straight forward Pacman style game that reinforced expanded form, although it might not go as far as decimals. It's good practice for kids struggling with their expanded form of numbers. 
• Fruit Shoot: Another Sheppard Software game. If you play the harder levels it's a spot on match for 5.NBT.3a.
• Walk the Plank: A game from mathforchildren, it's funny and kids enjoy it.

5.NBT.3a VIDEO: This is a Khan Academy video that discusses expanded form with multiplication, pretty much as stated in the CCSS. 

5.NBT.3b

UNPACKED EXPLANATION:  Compare two decimals to thousandths using inequalities (<, >, =). 

WHAT THE PARCC WILL EXPECT: Again, this standard is not included on PARCC practice exams. This is a pretty important standard for students to master, however, because it allows them to show mastery over comparing decimals, understanding place value, and even the ability to properly complete inequalities. So let's just go from there.

RESOURCES:This standard is almost identical to the inequalities standard that many states already had in place before the Common Core, so anything you, as a teacher, already have prior to CCSS (if you didn't trash it) would work great here. Here's a few online resources:

• orglib.com questions library for 5.NBT.3a and b: There's not a lot of questions here, but what they do have are to the point and would probably be what it would look like on PARCC. 
• Collection of lessons from mathworksheetland.com for 5.NBT.3b (some 3a stuff is in here as well).
• mrmaffesoli.com 5.NBT.3b worksheet resource page: Yet again, some great resources. Go ahead and bookmark this site, it's golden for everything CCSS.
• Common Core Sheets: Same as above for 3a. Good stuff, with many different versions of worksheets available. 

GAMES:

• Balloon Pop: A simple yet great game for ordering decimals. It's a challenge, but students are sure to enjoy it.
• AAA Math Comparing Decimals: It's more like an online practice test than a game, but it really works well. 

5.NBT.3B VIDEO:

Primary Sources: The Perfect Fit for Informational Texts in the Common Core

I've been focusing a lot lately on informational texts as we move towards the Common Core adoption that is pretty much going into full swing next month, and with good reason. The informational text / literature split is very important moving forward, and failure to give it its proper due and focus heavily on it might actually cost you your job a few years down the road, it IS essential.

At the beginning, I focused a lot on resources. Where can I find informational texts? Are there resources out there for how I can use them properly in my classroom? I've already done some posts about this (see: Informational Text Free Digital Resources and The Informational Text Revolution).

Now, I'm starting to think about the connection to other subject areas (another major key in the CCSS). I've always considered myself a social studies teacher. Yes, I'm an elementary school teacher who teaches, and does a pretty darn good job of teaching, all subject areas. BUT, social studies, especially history, has always been my primary passion, and as my instruction in social studies has evolved to the point of students doing multiple research based projects, presentations, and doing some deep, relevant, technology and personally driven learning about history, geography, sociology, and economics, I've thought about how this all fits the CCSS.

I'm going as far as to say that implementing the CCSS in social studies might be the most exciting part of the CCSS adoption for me personally... well, it's actually pretty close between that and the changes it demands of math instruction from kindergarten all the way through 12th grade.

Social studies instruction is already built for informational text. Honestly, I think most of us in the elementary grades might not go deep enough with our instruction, or with student expectations when doing research, but that's not really the point here.

The point here is simple: Primary sources. The more I've been thinking on this subject and studying it, the more I am convinced that 5th grade students can read and analyze primary sources, and it's exciting. Some of the primary examples I've seen of implementing the CCSS in 5th grade involve reading and analyzing the Gettysburg Address, Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech, and other great primary sources.

So with that in mind, I'm going to just throw some information and resources out there that I think can benefit all of us. I'll be listing a quick description of each of these multiple links:

These first links are to research articles, and other descriptions of the importance of primary sources within the CCSS:

• Common Core and ELLS: Key Shifts in Language Arts and Literacy : A quick article that lays out the shifts in moving to the Common Core. It very clearly shows how informational texts and primary sources fit within it all.
• Engaging Students With Primary Sources : A quick blog post from a social studies teacher that quotes the CCSS and clearly explains how primary sources fit in the standards and the classroom.
• Guidelines for Using Primary Sources in the Classroom : A pdf document from The National World War II Museum
• Primary Sources: At the Heart of the Common Core Standards : A great quick article on the Library of Congress website that makes it pretty clear how important primary sources are.
• Five Strategies to Infuse Common Core State Standards With Social Studies Instruction : A great little article that really got me thinking about how I'm going to use primary sources in my own classroom.
• Teaching With Primary Sources Journal : That's right, there's a whole journal on this topic. Check out this pdf, it's powerful stuff. 

Finally, I'm going to end with some resources that can be used with students, or can get you thinking more about using primary sources in your classroom:

• Teaching With Documents, Lesson Plans : From the National Archives website, there's some decent lessons here that really help when developing your own lessons. A good place to start.
• Using Primary Sources in the Classroom : A great pdf document from the Library of Congress that lists some great lesson ideas and some examples.
• Primary Sources for the Classroom : A pdf document from the state of Tennessee that might be my favorite of everything I've listed here. There's some stuff I want my students to read and take to heart as they start researching.
• Library of Congress Common Core Teacher Resource Center : If you don't know about this, wake up! This huge listing of resources can't be ignored. I've been referring to it often. It's growing daily, and there are tons upon tons of great things there, not just for primary sources, for ALL the Common Core.
• Evaluating Sources : Another pdf document, this one is helpful and I think your smarter 5th graders could handle without too many problems.

The Zone of Proximal Development and the Common Core: Teaching the Child, Not the Standard (Sort of)

This morning I wanted to talk about the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and the Common Core (CCSS). If you're not aware of the ZPD, go read up at simplepsychology.org or this definition with visual. To paraphrase, the ZPD talks about scaffolding learning, and that at any given point, we have present knowledge, the next level of knowledge, and beyond. Knowledge that cannot yet be obtained because it lies to far outside that scaffolding is called the distal zone. For example, you can't teach a 1st grader trigonometry because there's so much knowledge to obtain between now and then, so trigonometric functions will stay in the distal zone for some time (longer for some than others).

The great thing about the CCSS is that the tools are right there for teachers to ensure that every child is learning in their ZPD.

In the excerpt from RL.1, taken directly from the Common Core Standards ELA document, a 5th grade student is expected to "Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text." Well, guess what? Not every kid in your class will be able to do that, ESPECIALLY in the first years of the Common Core. So what do you do if that child isn't in their ZPD? Go back to 4th grade. It says ""refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text." If that doesn't fit the bill, keep moving backwards. This work will be integral in the initial years of the CCSS. Of course, we want each student mastering the 5th grade standard by the end of the year, but it's much clearer in the CCSS how everything scaffolds, and how the level of complexity picks up from one year to the next.

Now, when doing a read aloud (which, honestly, is a part of EVERY classroom, a major part, as it should be), it's important to know how this fits the CCSS. Let's not get into the mindset that the CCSS kills reading literature for pleasure, it seeks to balance the reading of literature and informational texts, and reading for pleasure, as most any teacher knows, is very important to student success and is an indicator of future success in the literacy classroom. 

First off, you have to know the standards. You have to know when you're touching on those standards, and giving students practice, because after all, writing is equally important as reading in the CCSS (and it really is, you can't argue that). By knowing the standards by heart, you'll know what areas to focus on, where to stop and have book discussions, and when to assign deep writing assignments based on the read aloud.

William and Pérsida Himmele, in their article Why Read Alouds Matter More in the Age of the Common Core Standards, say:

In light of this radical shift away from our current lopsided emphasis on narrative texts, protecting the read-aloud time may seem counterintuitive. After all, why would we want to use up valuable instructional time reading stories to our students? Our answer is simple. In addition to getting kids hooked on books, narrative read-alouds are an effortless way to help students acquire the academic language they will need to comprehend informational texts.

When we give up the read-aloud, we may slow students' vocabulary learning; research has shown a strong positive correlation between read-aloud experiences and vocabulary development (Meehan, 1999; Roberts, 2008; Sénéchal & LeFevre, 2002; Sharif, Ozuah, Dinkevich, & Mulvihill, 2003). A 20-minute read-aloud can repeatedly expose children to academic words that will likely show up in content textbooks. For example, such words as somber, bespoke, probed, tolerance, substance, boring, searing, eliciting, surges, and anguish are considered academic vocabulary. And they all appear in this paragraph from Brandon Mull's book, Beyonders: Seeds of Rebellion, marketed for 3rd to 6th graders. In this excerpt, a character named Nedwin describes his torture at the hands of the captors who placed him under the influence of a pain-enhancing substance.

Exposure to academic words, and exposure to advanced ideas are important components of the read aloud. As you push more and more through the CCSS, you'll learn that exposure is key, you need to constantly expose students to these ideas and to shift their thinking to a deeper level. It will be a challenge in the initial years as we see the glaring gaps between the CCSS and our old state standards, but that's ok, this is about college readiness and future success, and we have to start somewhere.

WORKS CITED

Himmele, William and Himmele, Pérsida, (December 6, 2012). Why Read-Alouds Matter More in the Age of the Common Core Standards. ASCD Express. 8 (5).

Meehan, M. L. (1999). Evaluation of the Monomgalia County schools' Even Start program child vocabulary outcomes. Charleston, WV: AEL.

Roberts, T. (2008). Home storybook reading in primary or second language preschool children: Evidence of equal effectiveness for second language vocabulary acquisition. Reading Research Quarterly, 43(2), 103–130.

Sénéchal, M., & LeFevre, J. A. (2002). Parental involvement in the development of children's reading skill: A five year longitudinal study. Child Development, 73(2), 445–460.

Sharif, I., Ozuah, P. O., Dinkevich, E. I., & Mulvihill, M. (2003). Impact of a brief literacy intervention on urban preschoolers. Early Childhood Education Journal, 30(3), 177–180.

The Informational Text Revolution: CCSS and the Changes We All Face

This blog is already structured around subjects (the easiest way to reach those subjects is by clicking the name of the subject in the logo at the top of the page). These subjects are laid out by the way I teach them in my classroom... correction the way I taught them in my classroom. The incoming Common Core State Standards (CCSS) will surely have an impact on that.

Now, the CCSS doesn't change the fact that in 5th grade I teach American history and geography. CCSS doesn't change the fact that, here in New Mexico, Social Studies is still covered by the New Mexico Standards and Benchmarks (those standards for Social Studies are available HERE).

The CCSS, after all, cover English Language Arts and Mathematics. An article put out by the New York Times on December 13, 2012 titled Fiction of Non-Fiction? Considering the Common Core's Emphasis on Informational Text asked if the focus on informational texts within the CCSS is detrimental to student learning and love of reading. The article also has a great resource, a quick little questionnaire that can be given to students to see how much they read outside of fictional literature (the answer: probably not much). I know that I'm guilty of having certain books I like to read every year (The Castle in the Attic, The Giver, Holes, and The Lightning Thief to name a few). Well, "the CCSS deemphasizes reading as a personal act and emphasizes textual analysis" (Calkins 2012). And before I dig too deep here, I'm going to just say that the CCSS for literature and informational text are the same, so I'm going to leave it at that.

When it comes to all these informational texts, as I said previously in the post titled Informational Text Free Digital Resources: Gearing up for the Common Core, it's not a matter of many of us going in a direction with literacy that we've never gone before, it's just a more mindful approach to the usage of some strategically chosen texts, and for students to not only be exposed to various texts, but to know their interests and steer them towards informational texts that pique their interests. Also, we have to be mindful of the fact that there is a different between reading for a fact hunt and reading to gain understanding and comprehension of an idea.

BUT, this doesn't mean that informational text reading just becomes about student interest and leave it at that. The research shows that students need to be reading for 90 minutes per day optimally, and that is actual holding a book in their hands reading time (Allington 2005). That's a lot. I usually give my students 25-35 minutes per day of individual reading, and the vast VAST majority of that reading is fiction based literature.

In the coming weeks, I will be laying out how to get started in the reading and writing classrooms (or at least how I will start), including how to assess student readiness and reading levels quickly and efficiently, and how to teach thematically (using The Lightning Thief and teaching Greek Mythology simultaneously for example). I will also be revisiting my units for Social Studies and Science, and focusing them on informational text and writing based approaches. It should be a fun time, but in the end, I feel that it will better prepare me (and anyone who finds these resources and uses them) for what lies ahead.

So stick around, bookmark my page, and come back soon. I'm already getting everything lined up, I just don't like to post things until they're finished. Look for more tomorrow!


WORKS CITED:

Allington, Richard, 2005. What Really Matters for Struggling Readers: Designing Research Based Programs, 2d ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Calkins, Lucy, Mary Ehrenworth, and Christopher Lehman, 2012. Pathways to the Common Core: Accelerating Achievement. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Informational Text Free Digitial Resources: Gearing up for the Common Core

It's time for Common Core (CCSS) all over the United States, and I for one couldn't be happier. I believe these standards will demand more of students and teachers. The standards will demand a thorough, rigorous, culturally relevant, and college preparatory based education from kindergarten all the way through 12th grade. If the standards are taken to heart, if teachers buy in and work to the maximum of their abilities, I have little doubt that education in the United States will not only be the strongest in the world in about 10 years, but will be the strongest educational system the world has seen. No, I'm not just a CCSS fanboy, I was skeptical just like many others, but the more I read, the more I experience, and the more I train both myself and others, the more excited I am to see what my students are capable of, and how hard and how far I can push them.

In the area of literacy, the CCSS moves classrooms into the world of informational reading and writing. In fact, by the 4th grade, students should be reading 50/50, 50% literature and 50% informational. It also demands that informational text goes deeper than just reading for fact finding. I'm guilty of this, I have too often used informational texts as nothing more than a fact hunt to use in research posters or projects, etc. But that's changing, we have to start going deeper.

This post specifically targets informational text resources that are freely available out there. For me personally, I'm able to call upon a teacher resource room with hundreds of informational texts at my school, and an online resource file of informational texts through the Pearson SuccessNet website (something that came with my districts reading adoption a few weeks back). Those two things are definitely not free and if you don't have them, you're probably not getting them anytime soon. So what to do?

Here is a list of some resources out there to get you some informational texts to your students. All you really need here is a computer, BUT, if you'd like to view these on a tablet, or have them in pdf format, that's pretty easy to accomplish (I prefer using pdfs on iPads because students can annotate them within a note taking app, and pdf documents have more of a traditional text "feel" to them.

I will be focusing on the ins and outs of the CCSS and how informational texts fit in the classroom here in the near future, but for today, let's stick to resources, because it's so much easier to jump on board when you know you have something to back you up. So here we go:

• This first link is to a free, browser based web page to pdf converter. It takes the center frame of a web page and saves it in a high quality pdf. I use this when I want students to read something from, for example, the Scholastic for Kids page, and don't want them sifting through text in the midst of side bars and links. Web 2 Pdf. Bookmark it!
• A listing of some good places to start gathering resources, in a post titled Online Sources for Informational Text at a blog called "Hello Literacy." Ignore the link to the web to pdf converter on their page called joliprint, as it is no longer in service.
• While I'm linking to some online listings (of which there are literally thousands upon thousands), there's also this page from the Common Core Georgia Performance Standards website on Informational Text Resources. There's also this post at Eye on Education. Both should give more than a few resources that you'll want to bookmark.
• At the beginning of the second page of this pdf document is multiple links to small readers on the Scholastic website, and they're really pretty good (and already in the correct format). 
• If you're not aware of The Reading and Writing Project, familiarize yourself. They are the group that did Pathways to the Common Core, a great book that's been like a CCSS literacy bible for me personally. On their site, they keep a listing of information texts called Digital Nonfiction Text Sets.

Common Core Changes

My early summer lay off isn't exactly over (it's been four weeks since my last post), but I do feel that I'm ready to start posting my Common Core (CCSS) units fairly soon. To provide a little background, here in New Mexico, at least here in Las Cruces, grades K-3 adopted the CCSS this past school year. Grades 4-12 will be adopting this upcoming school year. I know many states have already been there for a few years, but this is my first big experience with it all.

Before I jumped right in and started putting up lessons, ideas, units, assessments, etc. that are CCSS aligned, I wanted to make sure I sufficiently understood what the CCSS is all about. I've attended (and facilitated) a number of workshops and trainings this summer, and have also been reading Pathways to the Common Core, a great book that makes it easier to digest these changes in the literacy and writing classrooms.

Now that I've got a good idea of the direction I'll be going to one last math training today. I attended a few earlier this week about math pacing guides, and this one today is about CCSS and our new math series, Pearson enVision. There will be some changes to my page here. What I'll be doing is re-aligning my units for the CCSS. I will not take down my old units and lessons, but will be attempting to include CCSS resources in them, even the science and social studies one. I will be attempting to re-do those units to reflect both the National Council for Social Studies (NCSS) standards that haven't been mandated in New Mexico, but are definitely coming, and the National Science Education Standards (NSES), which are also not mandated but help tie together my lessons to a broader focus.

I will begin posting these units this weekend, as well as some ideas on how to setup instruction in the various subjects according to the CCSS while addressing rigor, relevance, and a much greater depth of learning.

I'm excited about this shift to the CCSS, I think it will really force teachers to demand more of themselves and their students, and will pay off in the long run. Like anything else that is mandated in education, there are pitfalls and things to make you shake your head. But I've decided that, as it relates to the CCSS, there's not much value in complaining, we're all in this together (quite literally, all states with the exception of Texas, Virginia, and Alaska... and Minnesota in math, have adopted the CCSS, you can see that for yourself on this In the States graphic).

I hope you'll come back and be able to utilize some of what I put up here. Thanks!

5th Grade Common Core Cumulative Assessment and Practice Packet

My students are currently gearing up for some end of the year assessments, and these assessments are rather important to 5th graders, because their scores influence their placement in middle school classes. Obviously, my students see the value in doing their best, so they asked for a cumulative review to get them ready.

Now, even though we're not technically "on" the Common Core (CCSS) until next year, our districts formative assessment, the Discovery test, is CCSS based. So for that reason, and to fill in any gaps, I searched far and wide for a cumulative review, and boy did I find some good stuff!

But, instead of listing a ton of resources, I wanted to focus on one in particular that my students are using, and are thankful that they have.

Off at the Bridges Math Learning Center website, I found this fantastic pdf file titled:

FIFTH GRADE ASSESSMENTS AND SCORING CHECKLISTS, COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS

This document is 41 pages in length. I was able to narrow it down to 22 pages of things my students are going to review. So I edited down this pdf file. I want to stress that all credit for this document goes to the Bridges Math Learning Center.

My edited version of this pdf (the 22 page version) can be accessed HERE from my Google Drive.

PARCC Assessment: Yes, It's Coming, Yes, You Can Prepare

Soooo, I don't want to freak anybody out, but if you live in:

• Arizona
• New Mexico
• Colorado
• Oklahoma
• North Dakota
• Arkansas
• Louisiana
• Mississippi
• Alabama
• Georgia
• Florida
• Tennessee
• Kentucky
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Ohio
• Pennsylvania
• New York
• Massachusetts
• New Jersey
• Delaware
• Maryland
• Washington DC

You are only a year and a half away from a new state mandated test, called the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC from here forward) assessment. That's right, your state testing is about to change, and the change will be dramatic.

What makes this test difference is, well, a few things. First of all, it's computer based. That's right, students will be taking the high stakes test online. Plus, now, when we want to compare data across states, we won't be comparing apples to oranges to bananas. We will be comparing states using the identical assessment. So for those 22 states and DC, greater accountability is at hand.

But don't freak out! It's good news (hopefully). When the PARCC Assessment goes live during the 2014-2015 school year, each of those listed states will be fully aligned to the Common Core (CCSS from here forward). 

We're talking about an assessment that will be taken in grades 3-12 by over 25 million students (according to the website).

I highly recommend teachers from any one of those states listed above to go to the PARCC website (which I've linked to twice, you can click the logo or the other link... oh heck, HERE IT IS AGAIN). Start digging through it and see what's waiting for us all right around the bend. 2014 is a lot closer than you think, A LOT CLOSER!!!!

Illustrative Mathematics: A Great Resource To Help in the Transition to Common Core Standards

In my most recent web surfing, on Richard Byrne's Free Technology for Teachers blog, I came across a post  called Illustrative Mathematics. After looking into Illustrative Mathematics (this link goes to that site) a little more, I really like what I see. For each grade, K-12, you can see illustrations of what each common core standard is all about and how to utilize it. The image below shows the menu that comes up when you click on K-8 Standards at the main page, with a box around 5th grade. Any standard that lines up below fifth grade is clickable for more information. It's really a great resource if you're transitioning to the common core. In the state of New Mexico, we still have one more year in 4th and 5th grades before we move to the common core, but we're already hard at work aligning our content to make our work easier come this time next year.